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I know that was the date that the car was started ,but I am reffering to the build start date verses the body number on the trim tag ...Because if you had alot of ( Real )cars from say Norwood then you could develope a base like the Vin base . So for instance if you found a car that looked suspicous then you could cross check the body number with known cars from that build date and see if it fits ... Does this make sense?

I know that was the date that the car was started ,but I am reffering to the build start date verses the body number on the trim tag ...Because if you had alot of ( Real )cars from say Norwood then you could develope a base like the Vin base . So for instance if you found a car that looked suspicous then you could cross check the body number with known cars from that build date and see if it fits ... Does this make sense?

Sounds like it should but it doesn't. The BDY number was assigned by Central Office when the dealer order was confirmed. It has nothing to do with production scheduling or build configuration. There were maybe 7,000 dealers ordering Camaros; they booked about 1,100 orders daily through March for both plants. The rates changed when Firebird production moved to Norwood, again when Van Nuys shut down.

To further confound the issue about 28% of confirmed dealer orders were not built. Through July '69 both plants produced just over 200,000 Camaros but Central Office had confirmed 277,000 dealer orders. How Camaro orders were prioritized in production is impossible to determine. Dealer orders were not all treated equally.

Paul , I read the link you posted and I understand that the next car in sequence may have not built at the same plant.... For example if we use the tag that's posted on that link 03D NOR 295460 Then if you found a car 03D NOR 338975 then wouldn't that look suspicious ? Then if you had a known tag say 07A NOR 338952 Then you would tend to think that the car you found was a fraud... Does this make sense? Thanks Rob

COPOs have provided some insight as to how orders could be "pulled in" or "pushed out." The initial 50 unit ZL1 order was confirmed on or about Dec 6, 1968. Cars #1 & #2 were final-assembled Dec 30 and delivered to Gibb Dec 31, 1968. That's 14 production days after they were ordered-the Body and Chassis Broadcast copies have this note: "SHIP 1230 ESTES REQUEST RED HOT." Pete Estes was Chevrolet General Manager at the time. The BDY numbers for those cars are 222002 & 222003; much higher than other Camaros built at that time. It's just my guess that they were waiting for ducted hood parts to arrive at the plant as these were likely the first ZL2 cars built at Norwood. Build docs for both exist; they had pilot ZL1 engines built at Flint [not Tonawanda] weeks prior as were the BE axles. The next Gibb ZL1 was completed about March 4, 1969. It has a BE axle dated Feb 25. Axles were built in Detroit so those cars were released to production the instant the axles arrived at Norwood. Central Office employees have stated that BE axle availablity dictated COPO scheduling.

BTW the earliest Gibb ZL1 BDY number 222001 was built 43 days after 222002. 12 other Gibb ZL1s with higher numbers were built prior to it. 222001 was the first Le Mans blue ZL1 so that may have been a factor.

There was a Central Office memo sent to dealers early November 1968 advising that additional Z/28 orders would not be accepted until engine production could catch up to existing orders.

There are too many variables involved to draw any conclusions from a BDY number relative to a VIN.